How does CPR work?
In: 2
Not like in the movies.
When you perform CPR, you take over the job of making the heart “beat”.
Normally, the heart beats by (basically) squeezing itself periodically. As it beats, some valves open and shut, so the blood gets pumped through the arteries and the rest of the body.
Without constant movement of blood, a person dies very quickly from lack of oxygen.
If the heart stops beating properly, the person will likely collapse and become unresponsive. When you do CPR properly, you squeeze the heart periodically, and the valves do their trick, and blood keeps going around the body, keeping it alive.
The right medical treatment can sometimes (depending on exactly what went wrong) kick-start the heart into beating properly again. Without CPR, that medical treatment might arrive too late.
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